Hiring for a Diverse Workplace

As a manager, it's important to understand the value of creating a diverse workforce. Hiring for diversity gives you access to a larger pool of candidates, making it easier to find the most talented employees. Having a diverse workforce also creates opportunities to connect with new customers and improve your company's bottom line. If you need to improve the diversity of your workforce, follow these tips.

It's almost impossible to create a diverse workforce if top executives aren't convinced of the value of diversity. Before you implement diversity initiatives, make sure company executives, department managers and team leaders understand what you are trying to do. If your human resources department tries to implement a new initiative without getting buy-in from senior leadership, the initiative is likely to fail.

Once company executives give you the go-ahead for a diversity initiative, hold each department accountable for the results. You can't build a diverse workforce if the managers of your accounting and IT departments insist on hiring the same type of employee over and over again. Whether you are aiming for racial diversity or trying to hire more women, department managers need to know what you expect. If a department head refuses to get on board with the initiative, you may need to use your company's disciplinary process to effect change.

It's difficult to create a diverse workforce if you don't implement the right strategies. If you are involved in your company's recruitment efforts, one way to improve diversity is to change your staffing pipeline. If most of your candidates are white men, focus on filling your pipeline with female candidates or candidates with varying racial backgrounds. As soon as a job opens up, move qualified candidates from the pipeline into your company's hiring process. If this strategy isn't compatible with your current recruitment methods, focus on retaining women and ethnic minorities after they are hired.

Before implementing any diversity initiatives, assess where you are. Run reports to determine how many employees are men, how many are women and how many belong to certain ethnic groups. Once you have the data in hand, set goals for creating a diverse workforce. You may want to increase the number of women employees by 10 percent or add at least two more Hispanic employees to your workforce. Publicize these goals so everyone in your company understands what you are trying to do.

Hiring for diversity has many benefits for employers of all sizes. Not only do you get the benefit of different perspectives, you also get the chance to connect with customers of different races and ethnic backgrounds. If you decide to create a more diverse workforce, consult with an attorney before implementing new initiatives. Make sure every diversity program is in line with state and federal laws.

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